The Corner Store
by Guardian Fox
Summary: Mr. Vasilias is baffled by his son, who refuses to go to the corner store they always go to for their father-son outing. All because of something about a boy named Sun.


"No, Dad."

Mr. Vasilias can't understand it. He and Neptune take a trip down to the local corner store, only a few blocks away from their apartment, weekly so he can buy him some of his favourite candies as a reward for his hard schoolwork, and provide some fun family bonding. Neptune has always loved it – even going so far as to beg for more trips a week if he did extra well on a test. But for some reason, today Neptune is not having it.

"What's wrong Neptune, I thought you'd be excited. You always like going to the corner store."

"No. I hate the corner store."

Alarm bells immediately go off in Mr. Vasilias' head. He knelt down next to his son. They hadn't even made it out of Neptune's bedroom before this temper tantrum had caught on.

"Neptune, c'mon buddy. What's up? Did something happen?"

Neptune isn't meeting his eyes now, and it looks like they're getting bright with the promise of tears.

"You know if you didn't get the grade you said you did, that's ok. You work hard every week, and I love you, and I want to spend this time together."

"I-It's not fair," Neptune seems very close to tears now.

"Hey, buddy. Have I been pressuring you too much? It's ok if you don't get high grades."

"No, my grades are fine and I don't care about that. I just don't like the convenience store. Can't we go somewhere else?"

Now he's confused, because this convenience store has a candy that Neptune is particularly fond of, imported from Vale, and is the only nearby place that Neptune can get it, which is why they settled on that place in particular for their outings.

"Okay, Neptune, that's fine if you want to go somewhere else. and I'm glad you're not upset with me. But you're clearly still upset about something, and I need to know what it is. Why don't you like the corner store anymore? It's ok, you can tell me."

Neptune is quiet for a moment, biting his lip, trying to get everything together.

"They were mean to my friend Sun."

That's a name he hasn't heard before.

"Who's Sun? I haven't met him yet. Is he from your school?"

Neptune nodded. "Yeah, I met him at the playground last week and he's really nice. He's really good at climbing and running. And we were playing, but then we got thirsty so we went to the corner store for a drink, but the cashier said that Sun couldn't come in and he made him wait outside. But I wanted to go to the store to show Sun the candy, but he couldn't come in, so I left too. Sun was really sad after." He broke out of the memory to look his father in the eye. "I don't get it, dad."

His son looked up at him with confused, imploring eyes. "Dad, what's a vermin?"

Mr. Vasilias blinked at the sudden topic change, but Neptune had always been inquisitive, so he answered out of habit.

"Vermin means like an unwanted rodent. Usually something considered dirty, like a rat."

Neptune's face scrunched up, as confusion seemed to cloud over some of his sadness.

"No, that can't be right. Sun said his tail was a monkey tail, so he's not vermin, is he Dad?" Neptune asked, very unsure.

Mr. Vasilias held in his shock with a deep breath.

"Neptune, even if your friend had a rat tail, he wouldn't be vermin. Ok? There's nothing wrong with your friend, and there's nothing wrong with anyone who has animal features."

Neptune went back to biting his lip as he quietly mulled over his father's words.

"You know what?" said Mr. Vasilias, "How about instead of us going to the store today, you can invite your new friend to play. I'd love to meet him. And we can ask him what stores he likes to go to, and we can go to those ones in the future for your candy."

Neptune, ever a thoughtful child, took a moment to think it over before a large smile grew on his face.

"Yeah dad! You can meet Sun and see how cool he is!"

Laughing with his son's cheering, Mr. Vasilias heaved a sigh of relief.

"I'm proud of you, Neptune," he said.

Neptune paused, confused by his dad's serious tone.

"For what, dad?"

Mr. Vasilias laughed.

"For making good friends. It's a very important skill, Neptune, so I'm proud of you."


End file.
